"It's just more bitter and personal against United," Sol Campbell said. "There's an edge. Maybe it's a little bit of the old north-south divide." He could have been talking yesterday, looking ahead to Sunday's meeting of Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, with a point between them just behind Chelsea in the Premier League. But this was 31 January 2005, on the eve of an earlier visit by United, one which ended in a 4-2 victory at Highbury for Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

At that time Campbell was still 18 months away from the end of his first spell with Arsenal, and not the least of the reasons why his feelings ran deep was the painful memory of an afternoon at Old Trafford three months earlier. United had beaten Arsenal 2-0 to end the proud 49-match unbeaten run of Arsène Wenger's Invincibles.

On that autumn day the crucial first goal had gone United's way when Wayne Rooney hurled himself to the ground over Campbell's challenge in the 73rd minute, winning a penalty converted by Ruud van Nistelrooy and earning the wrath of Wenger, who later accused him of diving. Rooney himself sealed the win with a ­second goal in injury time.

Campbell has a bit of history with United, and not just with Rooney. In April 2003 he flung an arm out at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during a 2-2 draw at Highbury and was given a suspension that forced him not just to miss the FA Cup final but to watch helplessly as, in his absence, Arsenal's defence crumbled during the Premier League run-in, destroying their chance of retaining the title. The following August he tussled with United's Eric Djemba-Djemba during the Community Shield at Wembley and was given a £20,000 fine. That one finished 1-1.

Now the leg injury suffered by Thomas Vermaelen at Villa Park on Wednesday night opens up the intriguing possibility that Campbell and Rooney, former England colleagues at opposite ends of their careers, will face each other once again when the two sides meet this weekend.

Perhaps Wenger was due a stroke of ill fortune, since Vermaelen and William Gallas have played together in every one of Arsenal's league matches this season, while Ferguson, deprived of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea and Wes Brown before Christmas, was forced to improvise his solutions by drafting midfield players into the centre of his rearguard. Wenger is not quite at that stage yet, but none of the possible ­solutions is without its drawbacks.

Of the understudies in central defence, the former United man Mikaël Silvestre, a utility back, who moved to north London 18 months ago, has started only two league matches this season and, at 32, no longer impresses. Johan Djourou – the 23-year-old Swiss highly rated by Wenger – has been out all season recovering from a knee operation, and is only just back in light training, while Philippe Senderos, his 24-year-old compatriot, has been sent on loan to Everton until the summer, at which point his contract terminates and will not be renewed. Kyle Bartley, an 18-year-old English centre-back who made his first-team debut against Olympiakos in the Champions League last month, is waiting in the wings, but is hardly ready to be thrust into a match that may have a crucial bearing on the outcome of the title struggle.

That is why Wenger has welcomed back the 35-year-old Campbell, who trained at Arsenal for several months following the abrupt end of his unlikely liaison with Notts County. Signed in the transfer window to provide cover, he has already added 90 minutes in the FA Cup defeat by Stoke City last Saturday and 55 minutes as a substitute for the wounded Vermaelen in Wednesday's goalless draw at Villa Park to his only other competitive outing of the season, for County in a 2-1 defeat at Morecambe in League Two last September.

Against Stoke, for whom Ricardo Fuller scored two goals that exposed Arsenal's central defence, Campbell looked slow and heavy. He has attracted criticism on Match of the Day from Alan Hansen, who thinks he is past it. Helping to keep Villa's swift forwards at bay for almost an hour three days later, however, may have done more to persuade Wenger that he was right to go against his usual philosophy of resisting the urge to allow former players back on to the playing staff.

Rooney, however, is currently in his prime. His superb fitness and mobility, along with his unquenchable appetite for keeping defenders fully occupied, are allowing Ferguson to get away with the gambit of leaving the untrusted Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen on the bench. Long before his last-gasp goal settled the outcome of the Carling Cup tie against United's neighbours on Wednesday, Rooney had given a marvellous demonstration of his versatility, using his strength and unearthly first touch to hold the ball up against City's big centre-backs and employing his guile and vision while dropping deep to bring others into play. Should Wenger be deprived of Vermaelen, can he afford to risk Campbell in his usual role as a man-marker against a 24-year-old predator who has already scored 21 goals in all competitions this season?

The solution may come with yesterday's return from the Africa Cup of Nations of Alex Song, who used the first half of the season to establish himself as a permanent replacement for Gilberto Silva in the role of screening midfield player. Four years ago, in the last African tournament, Song was used as a centre-back by Cameroon's coaches. In the current tournament he played mostly in the holding role in front of the defence, but in their semi-final against Egypt he was pushed further back until he was virtually operating as a third central defender.

If Wenger decides that the journey from Angola to the United Kingdom via Cameroon was not too arduous to prevent Song from playing, he may leave Campbell on the bench and deploy the Cameroonian alongside Gallas. In that case the screen in front of the defence will need reinforcing, perhaps with a partnership of Denílson and Aaron Ramsey. On present form Rooney, even when required to fend for himself, demands special treatment.